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Variation in the timing and duration of autumn leaf phenology among temperate deciduous trees, native shrubs and non-native shrubs

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Abstract

The timing and duration of autumn leaf phenology marks important transitions in temperate deciduous forests, such as, start of senescence, declining productivity and changing nutrient cycling. Phenological research on temperate deciduous forests typically focuses on upper canopy trees, overlooking the contribution of other plant functional groups like shrubs. Yet shrubs tend to remain green longer than trees, while non-native shrubs, in particular, tend to exhibit an extended growing season that confers a competitive advantage over native shrubs. We monitored leaf senescence and leaf fall (2017–2020) of trees and shrubs (native and non-native) in an urban woodland fragment in Wisconsin, USA. Our findings revealed that, the start of leaf senescence did not differ significantly between vegetation groups, but leaf fall started (DOY 273) two weeks later in shrubs. Non-native shrubs exhibited a considerably delayed start (DOY 262) and end of leaf senescence (DOY 300), with leaf-fall ending (DOY 315) nearly four weeks later than native shrubs and trees. Overall, the duration of the autumn phenological season was longer for non-native shrubs than either native shrubs or trees. Comparison of the timing of spring phenophases with the start and end of leaf senescence revealed that when spring phenology in trees starts later in the season senescence also starts later and ends earlier. The opposite pattern was observed in native shrubs. In conclusion, understanding the contributions of plant functional groups to overall forest phenology requires future investigation to ensure accurate predictions of future ecosystem productivity and help address discrepancies with remote sensing phenometrics.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Research Growth Initiative grant (101 × 368) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. We are grateful to Gretchen Meyer (UWM Field Station director) for granting us access to Downer Woods and helping with species identification. In addition, we thank three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments which greatly improved an earlier draft of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA

    Alison Donnelly, Rong Yu, Chloe Rehberg & Mark D. Schwartz

  2. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China

    Rong Yu

  3. Key Laboratory of Carbon Cycling in Forest Ecosystems and Carbon Sequestration of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, China

    Rong Yu

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  1. Alison Donnelly
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  2. Rong Yu
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  3. Chloe Rehberg
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  4. Mark D. Schwartz
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Contributions

A.D. conceived and designed the research project, established the monitoring campaign, analyzed the data and wrote the M.S.R.Y. helped with data analysis. Chloe Rehberg collected some of the data. M.D.S. provided some data.

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Correspondence to Alison Donnelly.

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Donnelly, A., Yu, R., Rehberg, C. et al. Variation in the timing and duration of autumn leaf phenology among temperate deciduous trees, native shrubs and non-native shrubs. Int J Biometeorol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-024-02693-7

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